REDUCTIBILITATEA CLAUZEI PENALE ÎN ACCEPȚIUNEA CODULUI CIVIL DIN 1864, A NOULUI COD CIVIL, A PRACTICII JUDICIARE ȘI DOCTRINEI

Currently, the law governing the criminal clause institution are laid down in Articles 1538 to 1543 of the new Civil Code. What holds the special interest of the legal literature, and, in particular, that of practitioners, is the court’s possibility to reduce the criminal clause where the principal obligation has been executed by the debtor (creditor’s advantage) and where the penalty is clearly excessive in relation to the damage that could have been set out by the parties upon the contract conclusion. This study presents the legal, doctrinal and jurisprudential evolution of criminal clause reducibility.